“We are not getting very far, very fast, because we persist in placing all the responsibility for teaching on the schools and on a short school day,” according to the report, titled “A New Day for Learning.” It was produced by the Time, Learning and Afterschool Task Force, and funded by the C.S. Mott Foundation.

Task force member and educational consultant Milton Goldberg puts it this way: “Learning doesn’t begin and end at the school door, and the processes that support it must be more timeless, cutting across hours and organizations. The future well-being of our young people, and even our country, requires a new conception of the learning day.” (The AFT was represented on the task force by Rob Weil, a deputy director in the educational issues department.)

The report is a little short on specifics, focusing instead on promoting this expanded view of how we define learning. “The pieces already exist somewhere at some level,” it says. That includes research about how students learn most effectively, models for effective collaboration across communities and different government entities, and high-quality professional development for everyone involved in teaching and learning. “It is critical that the out-of-school learning time be full of rich opportunities for every student,” the report continues. “Equally critical, however, is that a new day for learning encompasses the best knowledge we have about engaging students in high levels of learning from the moment the school day and year begin and draws upon the wealth of learning opportunities and of social supports available in most communities.”

A lengthy appendix to the report includes short profiles of school and community programs that have shown promise in moving student learning beyond the traditional day and setting. Among the highlighted programs: a business academy in Oakland, Calif., in which students combine classroom learning with entrepreneurship as they start businesses such as tax assistance; an after-school program for middle-schoolers in Boston that incorporates tennis, reading and teamwork; and an elementary school program in Dallas that brings arts and humanities into the schools through workshops, cultural excursions and
artist-in-residence programs.

“The purpose of education is to help all children achieve their intellectual and social potential,” Goldberg says. “By developing a new learning day, we will empower our young people to reach that potential and open doors of opportunity for themselves and their families.”

The Mott Foundation has funded other initiatives aimed at improving after-school activities, including a two-year grant to the AFT to help align after-school programs with the regular school curriculum and student standards.

The full report is available online at http://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/ANewDayfor Learning.pdf